Looking back over my notes of what happened with the vegetation this year brought back memories of how much of a shift we have seen from past years when the rainfall was sparser.
First, we noticed the abundance of Russian Thistle. Not since about 2018 have we seen so much thistle. In pastures, it was so heavy that many asked what to do to keep it from spreading. Those were good questions because it sure looked like the whole county would be covered with thistle, the likes of Kudzu vine in some parts of the south. All that one can do to fight this pest is to cut back its seed-generating ability which means mowing selective areas. General treatment with herbicides gets the good guys as well as the thistle.
Then along came the yellow flowers of every description and they lasted for months, one variety after another until the hot weather arrived.
Horsemint made a comeback this year with vast patches of this long-lasting flower.
Now, in the fall months, there are some small stands of Indian Grass and better stands of Litle Bluestem. In fact, it's the best year in a long time that we have seen so much bluestem. Yes, the KR Bluestem is still predominant, but that's a different story.
Where did the Texas Winter Grass go this year? I think it did not have the rain when needed and decided to sit out a year so look for it, hopefully, this winter.
Huisache? The heavy freeze of a couple years ago knocked it back to the Rio Grande so you can forget about those beautiful flowers for several years as it creeps back north, presuming we have no heavy freezes.
All this reminds me of how interconnected all plants and animals depend on their environment and their competition with each other. John Muir said it in one sentence: Everything is connected in Nature.
Some may remember the mouse story and how the mouse population affected the presence of the owl here in BWR. Darwin had this all figured out way back in the 1800s and wrote his book Origin of Species around his observations. I especially like this one paragraph, taken from his book:
...Hence, we may infer that it is highly probable that if the whole genus of humble bee became extinct or exceedingly rare in England, the red clover would soon disappear. The number of humble bees in any district depends in a great measure on the number of field mice, which destroy their ground nests, and Col. Newman, who has long attended to the habits of humble bees, believes that more than two-thirds are thus destroyed all over England. Now, the number of mice is largely dependent, as everyone knows, on the number of cats; and Col. Newman says:" Near villages and small towns, I have found that the nests of humble bees are more numerous than elsewhere, which I attribute to the number of cats that destroy the mice." Hence it is quite credible that the presence of the feline animal in large numbers in a district might determine, to a large extent, through the intervention first of mice and then of bees, the frequency of certain flowers in the district.
The Humble Bee is our Bumble Bee
Who wants to take a bet on whether we will see any significant growth of Russian Thistle come 2025?
